Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Hockey Night in Canada

Even though the meals here are included with my room rate, I haven't been able to bring myself to hit the dining hall for dinner. Last night, I walked into town with the goal of watching Canadians watch hockey, as well as grabbing a buffalo burger. Less than a block after reaching Banff's main drag, I found a bar that was showing the game (in fact, showing the Red Wing's first goal) and advertising a special on buffalo burger. On the other hand...there were no customers in the bar. I kept going. Bruno's looked more likely. There were a handful of people in there watching the game. After a check of the menu determined the availability of buffalo burger, I headed inside. As it turned out, there was one vocal Red Wings fan inside; the rest of the patrons had the grim air of people watching a bunch of foreign teams contest the championship of their national sport. At one point, the Red Wings fan started yelling at the TV when Wayne Gretzky appeared -- though I doubted his claim that he was now better than Gretzky at hockey. Other than that, the highlight was when the drunk French Canadian a couple of barstools down from me tipped over and smashed into the floor. After the manager determined there was no need for an ambulance, he told the guy's buddy they had to leave.

By the end of the 2nd period, the Red Wings were up 4-0, a microphone stand had appeared in the bar, and even the Red Wings fan had decamped for the sushi place next door. It was time to leave, so I walked to an ice cream shop that was foolish enough to accept the US dollar at par, and then headed back to my room.